30 Pieces of Silver
by dandy wonderous
Summary: Round 1 of 30onepiece's fic challenge, redux! This time around with... Silvers Rayleigh! Enjoy! Chapter dumping continued.
1. Beginning

Hey everybody!

I'm doing Round 1 of 30_onepiece's challenge! Again! Because I'm masochistic. Obviously. -_-'

My claim this time around is *drum roll please*…SILVERS RAYLEIGH!

Going for a Silvers Rayleigh award (for the other two I got Gold Roger awards). I have to get all 30 done by… August 1st, I think… Or maybe it was July 1st. Whatever.

Anyway, unlike the two "Thirty Days" fics, this one isn't all finished, so don't expect one everyday. I'll be putting them up here as I get them done. Right now, I have two finished.

This is a challenge because Rayleigh hasn't been in the series much. But I welcome the challenge! XD

Also, I don't really plan for any RayleighxShakky, but… well, don't be surprised if it pops up.

**Title:** Golden Age of Piracy

**Theme:** Beginning

**Words:** 210

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** One Curse

**Notes:** This one is fairly self-explanatory. I was wondering why this age was the great age of pirates when Roger was the greatest pirate to ever live. *shrug*

**Summary:** All the newspapers were calling this the great age of piracy…

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Golden Age of Piracy

By Dandy Wonderous

It was in all the newspapers, and of course he himself didn't read them, but Shakky told him about it when he wandered back to the café later. Roger's dying words (and damn if he just _had_ to make a nuisance of himself, even in death) had jump started some sort of piracy boom among the populace.

THE GREAT AGE OF PIRATES BEGINS! screamed the headline. He snorted a sarcastic laugh and pushed the paper away. Shakky said that she thought it looked fun and that she would be following the cute ones. She could have at it, but he had more important things to do than worry about thieves and vandals.

As far as he was concerned, this was no golden age of piracy. The pirate age was full of strong-willed dreamers who cared about their nakama. There were no politics attached, no desire to rule over the other pirates or join with the marines. It wasn't about acquiring gold, land, followers, or fame. It wasn't about who could get the biggest bounty or the largest fleet.

It was about the limitless sea and the total freedom she offered.

As far as Silvers Rayleigh was concerned, the golden age of piracy wasn't beginning. It had already come and gone.

**The End**

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A/N: Yup. That's all.

I'm still trying to get a feel for the characters, so excuse any OOCness.


	2. Promise

**Title:** Threats and Promises

**Theme:** Promise

**Words:** 708

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** Very Mild Violence

**Notes:** Ah, clichés. Gotta love 'em. XD This could be read with RayleighxShakky subtext if so desired, but it isn't meant to be at all.

**Summary:** These bounty hunters were either extremely brave, or incredibly stupid.

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**Threats and Promises**

By Dandy Wonderous

Bounty hunters had become more and more of a problem of late.

They weren't difficult for Rayleigh to take, of course. They were usually defeated in seconds with the sword or, if he couldn't be bothered to get up from his barstool, with a little haki. But it wasn't really himself that he worried about.

He had heard of his other nakama, about how several of them had been captured and executed. It was a sad thing, but Rayleigh was currently unable to do anything to save them. He could not be in all places at once.

The most he could do was protect himself and Shakky.

He'd been gone for about three weeks this time. It really wasn't that long for him, and if he hadn't felt such an innate sense of foreboding, he probably wouldn't be here now, standing in front of Shakky's bar.

Casually, he walked inside.

"Now, you're comin' with us whether you like it or not. Dead or alive is up to you," said the head of the group of bounty hunters, leveling his gun at Shakky's forehead. The others snickered and pointed their guns as well.

"But then who would run the bar?" Shakky replied nonchalantly. She was skimming through a newspaper, unconcerned with the barrels aimed at her. "Are one of you going to stay here and work while I'm in jail?"

"That should be the least of your worries!" spat the head, and the others roared their agreement.

"Hold on," said Rayleigh, walking up behind the group. "I think that's a legitimate concern. This bar would go under without someone running it."

The hunters whirled in surprise. "Wh-who are you?" the head spluttered.

He shrugged. "I live here."

"Sometimes," Shakky added, amused.

"I always come back," he defended with a laugh in his voice.

"That's true."

"Hey!" gasped one of the hunters. "That's Silvers Rayleigh, the Dark King!"

"Gold Roger's first mate!" added another superfluously.

"Men! Get him!" screamed the head.

One of the bounty hunters lurched forward, gun cocked. Rayleigh hooked him easily in the gut and he went flying back and against the wall with a bang. Another tried to jump him, and he was similarly flung, this time out the window. Two more came at once, one running to tackle him from the front, another swinging a chair at his back. Rayleigh stepped back at the last second, and the tackler was hit in the head with the chair, breaking it. He chuckled as the dazed hunter cursed loudly while his companion stammered apologies. Then he booted them across the bar and into the wall.

"Stop! Or I shoot her!"

Rayleigh turned slowly to find the head bounty hunter with his gun pressed to Shakky's forehead, the woman very calm for someone just taken hostage.

"What? No you won't," Rayleigh argued easily.

To his credit, the bounty hunter held up well; Rayleigh had been sure that the haki would knock him straight out, but he was still conscious, albeit on his knees. The other bounty hunters were out cold.

Rayleigh walked over and hauled the hunter to his feet, then marched him to the door. The hunter cursed him the whole way, a bit weakly.

Rayleigh threw him outside and he hit the ground with a thud. His subordinates followed, tossed into a heap next to him.

"I left you alive this time," said Rayleigh cheerfully, "but if you ever come back you won't get so lucky."

The bounty hunter held his gaze, scared but putting on a brave front. "Threats, old man?"

Rayleigh smiled. "Not a threat. A promise."

The hunter's eyes widened, realizing that the pirate definitely meant what he said. He whimpered and scrambled to his feet, running away and leaving his slowly wakening men to watch him in a daze before fleeing themselves.

Rayleigh watched them go, then turned and went back in the bar.

"I could have handled them," said Shakky. She was still reading her newspaper.

"They were between me and my sake," he answered simply, sitting on a barstool.

She smiled and set a bottle before him. "Madness, to get between Silvers Rayleigh and his alcohol."

"Some people just have to learn the hard way," he agreed.

Shakky just laughed.

**The End**

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A/N: Horrid ending! Augh! T_T


	3. Axe

**Title:** Damn Apprentices

**Theme:** Axe

**Words:** 455

**Rating:** T

**Warnings:** Mild Language, Scary (?) Imagery

**Notes:** Buggy and Shanks HAD to come in somewhere. After all, I love the Bugg-ster. XD

**Summary:** Shanks really shouldn't be swinging sharp objects around like that…

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Damn Apprentices

By Dandy Wonderous

"Hey, this is actually pretty cool!"

Rayleigh knew he shouldn't rise to the bait, but he did anyway, looking over at the young redhead's shout. Shanks and Buggy were going through the spoils from their latest bout with the marines. Shanks was holding the object of his exclamation aloft.

"I thought you wanted to learn the sword," he said, eyeing the battle axe warily. The boy didn't know the first thing about handling such a weapon, if the clumsy way he gripped it was any indication.

"I do, but don't you think it would be good for me to learn how to fight with other weapons, too?" he asked.

"Sure, but you should probably focus on one at a time, don't you think?"

Shanks shrugged, swinging the axe back down. Buggy had paused in sifting through the gold to watch him in amusement. Shanks grinned and swung the axe back and forth at imagined enemies.

"Watch it," Rayleigh cautioned. "You're gonna take an arm off or somethin'."

"I'm not gonna lose an arm," Shanks retorted, unworried. "See, I'm in complete control of-WAH!"

He swung his arm in a large, hacking arc as he spoke, and at its zenith the handle slipped out of his hand and flipped through the air, right at Buggy's head.

Time slowed down for a moment as the blade flipped with a phwip, phwip, phwip at the other apprentice. Buggy's eyes and mouth widened as it came down, piercing straight into his forehead.

Rayleigh was sure his heart stopped.

For an eternity the axe hung there, sticking into the boys flesh.

Then Buggy fell with a thump against the grass.

His head split in two, and the young pirate sat up, still in half like a piece of string cheese.

Wind stirred the leaves.

Then the two apprentices collapsed into laughter, unable to contain themselves. "You should've seen your face, Ray-san!" cried Buggy gleefully, and Shanks nodded in agreement, wiping moisture from the corner of his eye.

Rayleigh was not amused.

"OW!"

"OW!"

He stood over the two, arms crossed, while they whimpered and clutched their heads.

"You two are idiots!" he snapped. "Don't go scaring people like that!"

"Ugh… damn it…"

"Yes, Ray-san…"

He kicked both their rumps, causing them to jump to their feet.

"You morons are on barnacle scrapping duty for the next three months!" he barked, sending them scrambling back for the ship. "And don't you DARE try that stunt on Captain! You'll probably give him a damn heart attack!"

He watched them take off, shaking his head. "'Bout gave _me_ a heart attack," he murmured.

The gold and other loot was taken back to the ship.

The axe, however, was left right where it had fallen.

**The End**

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A/N: This is the second time I've had an axe falling at someone's head for this prompt… XP

Also, I feel like Shanks and Buggy acted too… young. Sorry for any OOCness.


	4. Mother

**Title:** And So It Goes

**Theme:** Mother

**Words:** 346

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** Mild Language, **SPOILERS **for Ace's parentage!!!

**Notes:** I'll reply to reviews for this and SaNa and Kiss Kiss SOON, I promise! In the meantime, enjoy this! ^^ I wasn't really happy with it, but I got told I should be, so I guess that's a good sign. XD It was this vague idea that led me to claim Rayleigh. I wonder how well Rayleigh knew Rouge, you know… I bet they knew each other fairly well. Oh, and the song (*pokes title*) has nothing to do with the story, I just randomly started singing it while writing this. *shrug*

**Summary:** It was hard to believe Garp came all this way for a social visit…

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And So It Goes

By Dandy Wonderous

Rayleigh really shouldn't have been surprised that it was Garp who was following him. After all, few other ships had the gall to enter this far into the Calm Belt.

The ship was just a schooner, which was how he knew that the marine was here on unofficial business. Otherwise, he would've brought a warship and been trying to blast his ass into Skypiea.

He sat on the deck of his little caravel and waited for the ship to draw alongside him. When it did, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Silvers. I thought I'd find you out here."

"Well, I don't have many places to go otherwise. Are you here to arrest me?"

Garp laughed at the joke, but got serious again a bit too quickly. "No. Actually, I'm here to tell you something."

"Oh?" Rayleigh took a swig of his beer bottle, looking at him inquiringly over the top.

Garp hesitated a moment, then his mouth spread into a huge grin.

"Gol D Ace."

Rayleigh froze, bottle half raised to his lips.

Then a matching grin spread across his own face. "A boy, then?"

"Yep."

"Healthy?"

"As a damn sea king!"

"Well, I'll be damned." Rayleigh shook his head, smiling. "A little Roger in diapers."

Then something seemed to occur to him, and he narrowed his eyes at the marine. "A Roger in diapers," he reiterated pointedly.

Garp nodded in understanding. "Don't worry. I'm taking him somewhere where he'll be safe. He'll grow up without having anyone know about his parentage, or any of the discrimination that would come with it."

Rayleigh frowned. "You're not going to tell him?"

Garp quickly shook his head. "No. He has that right, at least."

Rayleigh nodded. "Good." He took a contemplative sip of his beer. "…And what about Rouge?"

A heavy silence fell over the glassy waters.

"…She's dead."

Rayleigh stared out at the sea for a few moments. So she had made the ultimate sacrifice a mother could make, in the end, hadn't she?

He sighed and raised his bottle slightly.

"The good ones always are."

**The End**

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A/N: …*points in the vague direction of Japan* I blame Oda…

**Anonymous Reader Review Corner!!**

Pikinanou: Thanks! Oooo, I hope so. XD


	5. Wanted

**Title:** Misspelling

**Theme:** Wanted

**Words:** 422

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** One curse

**Notes:** This was me attempting writing Gol D Roger. I plan to do much more with him for this challenge. ^^

**Summary:** It's Roger's first bounty poster…

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Misspelling

By Dandy Wonderous

"Aaand… here it is!"

Rayleigh looked up from his beer and at what his captain was waving in his face. He raised an eyebrow. "A piece of paper."

"Huh?" Roger glanced down at the paper, then laughed at himself and flipped it over. "A bounty poster," he corrected. "My first!"

Now Rayleigh was much more interested. He shifted on his barstool and leaned over to get a better look.

"See that? They've already got me pegged at thirty million." Roger grinned broadly, proud of himself. "Not bad for a rookie, don't you think?"

The number was not what Rayleigh had noticed first. Instead, he had looked above that, between it and his captain's picture, right at… "I think that they got your name wrong, is what I think," he finally answered, taking an amused swig of beer.

"WHAT?" Roger flipped the poster over and looked at it again. "Huh? GOLD Roger!?! My name isn't GOLD Roger!"

"Calm down," he said lightly. "Gol D, Gold; it's an honest mistake."

"Honest mistake my ass!" he fumed, glaring at the offending poster. "It's COMPLETELY different! Why, I ought to go down to that base and give those damn marines a piece of my mind!"

Rayleigh chuckled. "Yeah, I'm sure _that_ will go over well."

"Well, it needs to be fixed! You'd think they'd at least show a _little_ consideration for the people they were trying to kill! For accuracies sake, at _least_!"

"Calm down," Rayleigh said again. He tossed a coin at the barkeep and was presented with another bottle of rum, which he held out to his infuriated captain. "Here, drink this; you'll feel better."

Roger muttered something childishly but took the bottle anyway. For a moment there was silence as he drank it.

"Umwaah. Good stuff," he said finally as he set the empty bottle back on the counter. He looked back down at the bounty poster and considered. "You know, maybe it's not that big a deal. I mean, everyone likes gold, right?"

Rayleigh smiled. "Most people, yeah."

Roger grinned broadly. "Yeah… Gold and Silvers."

"We should get a Bronze, too," Rayleigh joked.

For a moment Roger said nothing. Then his smile grew infinitely wider. "Yeah, that's a great idea!"

"I didn't mean it seriously," the first mate protested, but it was too late; his captain already had the idea in his head.

Rayleigh sighed in fake exasperation and looked down at the bounty poster again. He would need to get one soon himself.

He had to keep up with his captain.

**The End**

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A/N: I was basically modeling Roger off of Luffy. Hope it worked…


	6. Slingshot

So I'm going through my LJ stuff right now and making a huge fic dump. Boy do I feel bad for you guys who actually have me on alert.

Also no I haven't been around much and I don't know when I will be again. College life for me is a lot more conducive to role-playing than working on big fics, unfortunately, but I'm trying to get back into the writing spirit (though lately I have been writing about two _Xiaolin Showdown_ and _Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan!_ characters together all the time which is a long but awesome story.

The Rayleigh challenge has been finished for like… a year and a half, I just never got around to posting the rest of it here.

EDIT: Dang, I can't work this site anymore. I want my linebreaks back. :(

**Title:** Bull's-eye!

**Theme:** Slingshot-Round 1

**Words:** 418

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** Some cursing

**Notes: **I love Shanks and Buggy. Rayleigh's challenge was partially an excuse to write them young all the time.

**Summary:** Buggy challenges Shanks to a slingshot shooting contest. Things only get worse from there.

"Half my share of the treasure says that there's no way you can hit that target with this slingshot!"

Shanks looked up from where he was cleaning his swords to find Buggy standing confidently over him, holding said slingshot out to him. "Where'd ya get that?"

"Last raid. It's worthless for fighting anybody, but it's still good for aim and stuff." He waved it back and forth. "So, what'd'ya say?"

Shanks considered. With his experience in throwing knives, Buggy easily surpassed him in aim. Still, he was hardly one to turn down a challenge.

He grinned, jumping to his feet. "You're on."

Buggy cackled, then turned and aimed the slingshot at the target, fixed to the main mast. He waited until he had a clear shot, then fired.

PING!

"BULL'S-EYE!" he crowed, throwing his arms over his head. Then he turned and held the slingshot out to Shanks, smiling smugly. "Your turn."

Shanks grinned confidently and took the slingshot. He waited for a clear shot, aiming carefully with one eye closed.

After a moment, he let the small pellet fly.

THWICK!

"OW! Damn it, what the hell was that!"

Silvers Rayleigh rubbed his neck, searching for the source of the pellet. Buggy started laughing uproariously while Shanks paled and hid the slingshot behind his back. Rayleigh bent down and found the tiny metal pellet, then looked out over the deck, eyes immediately honing in on the two apprentices. Shanks hid the slingshot as the first mate made his way toward them.

"Alright, who shot it?" he demanded.

For a second, the two boys were frozen. Then Shanks pointed at Buggy and announced, "He did it!"

"What? ME! Why, you flashy bastard!"

The two began to scuffle with each other, and in the fight the slingshot fell to the deck with a clatter. Rayleigh cuffed them both in the head, then stooped and retrieved the weapon.

"Hmm… I used to be a pretty good shot," he mused, examining it.

"You wanna try, Ray-san?" Shanks suggested, pointing at the target.

Rayleigh considered, then grinned and lifted the slingshot. "Why not?"

The two apprentices cheered as he aimed carefully at the target, squinting. After a moment, he shot.

THWICK!

"OW! What the HELL was that!"

The three stared, horrorstruck, as Roger rubbed his neck. He looked around, then bent down and retrieved the pellet off the deck. He looked up and around, searching for the culprit.

Rayleigh shoved the slingshot into Shanks' hands and pointed at them.

"They did it!"

"HEY!"


	7. Cat

**Title:** It's What's for Dinner!

**Theme:** Cat

**Words: **163

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** Uhhh... disgusting dinner?

**Notes:** This was inspired both by the way my dad teases me while eating in Chinese/Mexican restaurants, and a similar conversation in _The Crossing_ by Cormac McCarthy. Sometimes skunks are called polecats, by the way (watch _Seven Brides for Seven Brothers_ for a perfect example; I love the Lonely Polecat song).

Roger and Rayleigh's food troubles quickly became a running theme.

**Summary: **Rayleigh finds some meat for dinner. Roger is less than pleased.

"So… what exactly am I eating?" asked Roger slowly, looking suspiciously at the burnt meat on his spit.

"Cat," Rayleigh answered without batting an eye. He took a large bite of the meat nonchalantly.

"…You're kidding."

"Nope. That's grade A feline you've got."

Roger raised an eyebrow at his first mate (and, currently, only crewmember). "I don't believe you."

"Suit yourself," he shrugged.

Roger sniffed the meat suspiciously. "Where did you find a cat in the woods, anyway?"

"It was just wandering around. I don't know what it was doing out here."

"And you just thought to yourself, "Hey, we should eat that!"?"

He shrugged. "You wanted to eat, didn't you?"

Roger considered this. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He took another bite.

"…I guess I should tell you," Rayleigh finally said slowly, "it's not cat."

"Aha! I knew it!" the captain crowed triumphantly.

"It's skunk."

Roger threw a rock at him and decided that Rayleigh was no longer in charge of supplies.


	8. Laugh

**Title:** Mockery

**Theme:** Laugh

**Words:** 544

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes: **I don't really think I was happy with this at the time of writing it. I don't think I am now, either.

**Summary:** They might be laughing now, but they won't be laughing long.

Over the course of his career, before becoming the Pirate King, many people would laugh at Gol D. Roger.

They would scoff and mock and call him a fool. They would list for him the reasons why his goal was unattainable, nonsense. They would find any example of past failures and show how he would end up the same.

And Rayleigh would think back with shame about how he used to be one of those people.

…

"I'm going to conquer the Grand Line."

Rayleigh choked on his beer. Conquer the Grand Line? What kind of insane man had he sat down next to?

"You… what?"

"I'm going to conquer the Grand Line," the man repeated, as simply as if he were saying he was going to order another round of rum.

Rayleigh stared at him blankly for a moment, and then started laughing. "Conquer the Grand Line? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard!"

The entire bar was laughing with him; the idea was preposterous, after all!

"Eh? I don't think it's dumb at all," the man -Roger, Rayleigh thought he'd said his name was- said simply, shrugging. If the laughter concerned him, he certainly didn't show it. "I think it's a great dream."

"A dream?" Rayleigh rolled his eyes, taking another swig of beer, tears of mirth still in the corners of his eyes. "Dreams are worthless; they can't fill your stomach or your glass."

Roger shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, my friend; dreams are what make life worth living."

"I've yet to see that in practice."

The man grinned at him and stood up off his barstool, extending a hand. "Come with me, and you will."

Rayleigh barked out a laugh. "Go with you? A pirate? No way." He turned away and drained the last of his bottle. "You'd have to prove it was worth it, first."

And then, for the first time, he heard Roger himself laugh. It was full, hearty, and honest.

"Is that all you want? No problem…"

…

Rayleigh was shocked. Hell, _everyone _was shocked.

That Roger man, from the bar, stood over the crumpled body of the bandits' leader. Those men had held the village, the whole _island_ in terror for two years. And he had just… walked in and beaten them up. Rayleigh had helped, once it was obvious that it could work, but it had been entirely on Roger to take out the boss.

He was injured, sure, blood staining his clothes and dripping onto the pavement, but he was still standing straight, tall, and proud.

"I am Gol D. Roger," he announced loudly, folding his arms and grinning an insanely broad grin. "And I will conquer the Grand Line."

No one was laughing. No one.

Roger scanned the crowd until his eyes locked with Rayleigh's, and he extended his hand again.

"That enough proof for you?"

Rayleigh grinned despite himself and walked across the dusty street. He clasped Roger's hand.

"This is completely crazy… but yes. I accept."

Roger laughed that powerful laugh again. "It might be crazy, but it will be the greatest adventure of all time."

Looking back on it years later, Rayleigh knew he'd been exactly right.

They had all laughed.

But now, the joke was on them.


	9. Cook

**Title:** Someone's In The Kitchen

**Theme:** Cook

**Words:** 316

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** FLAMING LUNCH!

**Notes: **I warned you about running themes, bro.

**Summary:** Today, Roger is cooking.

...

Rayleigh was leaning on the rail at the front of the small boat they had taken from the last island, watching dolphins jump out of the waves. Roger had declared that he would cook today because he didn't trust Rayleigh after the skunk incident.

Rayleigh wasn't quite sure he could trust his _captain_ with this task, and he became even less sure when he heard a lot of clattering from the small cabin and then a steady stream of curses.

"Everything okay in there?" he called over his shoulder, only to get a curse and then a hasty, "Yeah, yeah, it's good," in return.

Rayleigh smirked and turned back to watching the dolphins.

A few minutes later, the cursing rose in volume and the first mate could smell something burning.

"You sure you've got it?" he called.

"Uh, yeah, everything's great! Lunch is almost done!"

"Uh-huh." Rayleigh raised an eyebrow but didn't go to inspect it.

It was barely a minute later that he could see smoke trailing out of the porthole. He turned to watch through the now grey glass and was treated to the sight of his captain yelping and jumping back as a pan of something burst into flame. He grabbed it with a potholder and came running out, pushing past Rayleigh and dumping the contents of the pan into the sea. A burst of steam rose up to caress their faces.

"…You sure you can handle it?" Rayleigh finally asked.

"Yep!" Roger laughed heartily. "Can't you see lunch is done?"

The dolphins squeaked in protest at what looked like it was either grilled fish or burning tar and swam quickly away from the boat.

"…Uh-huh." Rayleigh turned away from the railing and walked past Roger to the kitchen. "I'm making lunch until we get a real cook."

His captain folded his arms and scowled. "Okay, fine. But we are NOT eating skunk!"


	10. Price

**Title:** No Price Too Great

**Theme:** Price

**Words:** 1,176

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** Mild Language

**Notes:** Buggy and Shanks are SOOO fun to write. ^^ And by the way, this is pre-Devil Fruit Buggy.

**Summary:** In which Rayleigh gets the cabin boys out of trouble. Again.

…

"Ray-san! Ray-san!"

Rayleigh sighed before turning away from where he was overseeing the loading of supplies. He knew that tone; the "Shanks and Buggy have once again gotten themselves into an awful mess" tone.

Sometimes, he wondered when he had gone from first mate to babysitter.

The pirate running up to him looked quite frantic. Rayleigh folded his arms and raised an eyebrow.

"Ray-san!"

"Yeah? What did the damn apprentices do this time?"

"They've been captured by bounty hunters!"

This caught Rayleigh by surprise; bounty hunters? But neither of the brats had bounties!

"What for?" he finally asked, causing the pirate to gape at him a little.

"Well, probably to get at you and Captain…" he mused, then snapped out of it. "Does it matter? You have to help them!"

The first mate sighed again, but nodded. "Alright, I'm on my way. Just show me where they were…"

…

Buggy and Shanks struggled against the thick coils of rope holding the two of them together, glaring the whole time at the bounty hunters.

"Let us out, you assholes!" Buggy yelled, kicking his feet furiously.

"Yeah! Captain and Ray-san are gonna beat you to a pulp when they find us!" Shanks agreed, throwing his weight against the bonds.

"Idiot!" Buggy would have hit him if he could use his hands; as it was, he settled on a furious glare. "Don't tell them what crew we're from!"

"Does it matter?" asked Shanks blankly.

"YES! Now they'll have an even better reason to keep us prisoner!"

Shanks thought that over. "Oh yeah. I guess you're right." Then he started laughing.

Buggy sighed. "Your self-preservation skills suck."

"Maybe they're better than yours," Shanks retorted. "If they had thought we were from a weaker crew, they might have just killed us right away."

Now it was Buggy's turn to consider. "I… guess I didn't think of that…"

"See?" Shanks was smug. "I'm smarter than you."

"WHAT! NO YOU'RE NOT!"

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Someone shut them up!" yelled the head bounty hunter, and one of the others kicked the two of them in their heads.

"Ow!"

"Bastards!"

They each got another knock to the head. "Hey, be quiet, you two!"

"I wouldn't try that again," said a new voice suddenly from the tree line. The hunters looked up in confusion while the apprentices' faces lit up.

"Ray-san!"

"Who's there?" demanded the head bounty hunter, pausing in picking food from between his teeth with a knife (he hated doing it because he often nicked his tongue, but someone had once told him it looked cool).

The man stepped out of the shadow of the trees and announced, "Silvers Rayleigh, first mate of the Roger Pirates."

"RAY-SAN!" the apprentices cheered again, and several of the bounty hunters gulped.

The head hunter, however, seemed unafraid. He got up off the stump he was seated on and stared the man down, in a way he was sure was intimidating. "I know who you are," he said, contradicting his last question. "I knew you would come for your brats."

"Yeah, well, someone's gotta clean the decks and scrape barnacles off the side of the ship," Rayleigh answered, shrugging a little. "Which is what you two will be doing once we get back to the ship," he added pointedly, looking past the hunter at the two boys.

"Awww…"

"You bastard, it's not like we TRIED to get captured!"

"I keep telling you that if you go wandering off alone, something bad is gonna happen. And watch your language, Buggy, unless you want to do all the crew's laundry, too."

The boy shuddered and hushed; no one wanted to do be stuck with that job.

"Hey, shut up all of you!" the bounty hunter snapped, glaring between them. "We haven't even agreed on if we're letting you live or not."

Rayleigh may have rolled his eyes behind his glasses at that; it was hard to tell. "I guess we have to do that part, huh? Alright, come at me then." So saying, he unsheathed his sword.

The leader smirked and waved his hand, and at once his men were on Rayleigh with clubs, swords, and axes.

The apprentices cheered as he took them all down in seconds.

Rayleigh watched in boredom as the last hunter fell after taking a hilt to his gut. "Is that really the best you've got?" Then he looked up and tensed automatically.

The head bounty hunter and one other he hadn't just knocked unconscious each had a gun to the boys' heads. Shanks and Buggy were both frozen, not wanting to give them any reason to pull the triggers.

Rayleigh stared for a second, then sheathed the sword and held up his hands. "Alright, you've got me; what will it take to make you drop the guns?"

The hunter sneered. "One hundred thousand beri… each."

Rayleigh whistled. "Wow. Expensive."

"Ray-san!" Buggy wailed. Shanks just blinked, unsure how to feel.

Then Rayleigh surprised them all by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a large wallet. "I can't give it all to you now, but will you accept a down payment? In exchange for your word not to hurt them until I get back."

The hunter nodded greedily. "That sounds agreeable to me."

Rayleigh crossed the clearing to him, and the hunters each lowered their guns as he held the bills out to the man - nearly fifty thousand beri.

It was in that split second that they lowered their weapons that Rayleigh used their haki to knock them both out. One of them squeezed the trigger as he did so, muscles tensed, and the bullet slammed into the ground, causing the apprentices to yelp.

Rayleigh just scoffed at how easily they passed out and bent to undo the ropes. Once that was accomplished, he stood over the two boys, shaking his heads.

"You guys are more trouble than you're worth."

"Why didn't you just do that from the beginning?" Buggy demanded, indicating the unconscious hunters.

"Because if I had, that bullet in the ground would be in your head instead," he pointed out, and the kid fell silent. Satisfied, Rayleigh began to lead them out of the forest.

"Hey, Ray-san," said Shanks after a few quiet minutes, "what if you couldn't have used haki to knock them out?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, would you have paid the ransom," he elaborated.

Rayleigh stared at them thoughtfully for a moment, then walked ahead a few strides so they couldn't see his face. "Well… I guess I would have. Because Captain would've been real upset if something happened to you," he added quickly.

Shanks and Buggy grinned slyly at each other. "But not because you care, right, Ray-san?" asked Shanks.

"Of course," he snapped gruffly.

"Of course," echoed Buggy. "It's not like the famous first mate of the Roger pirates has gone soft, eh, Shanks?"

"Oh no, definitely not!"

They both started snickering until Rayleigh turned on them, face angry and slightly flushed.

"Alright, laundry duty for the both of you!"

"Aww, man!"


	11. Loyalty

**Title:** A Noble Notion

**Theme:** Loyalty

**Words: **243

**Rating:** K+ I guess

**Warnings:** A curse or two, canon character death (implied)

**Notes: **Ugh, what is that next to last sentence?

**Summary:** Rayleigh thought being loyal was noble. Good. Right. He's not so sure anymore.

Loyalty. Defined as a feeling of devotion, duty, or attachment to somebody or something.

He had always thought it was a good thing, loyalty. Noble. Admirable.

"_I'm going to hand myself over to the marines."_

He had never realized before that it could be so cruel.

"_Don't be there, Rayleigh. Don't try to stop it."_

He learned this lesson. He learned it well.

"_This is my choice. I know I'm a dead man; might as well go out with a bang!"_

A horrible thing, really, loyalty. It blinded you with its noble intent, so you couldn't see the truth.

"_I'm ordering you, as your captain… but I'm also asking you, as your friend."_

Yes… no one should ever be bound by something as inherently evil.

"Hey, mister!"

He looked down at the tiny pirate, fake cloth eye patch, dishrag bandanna, clothes ironed by a mother's loving hand. "Yeah?"

"Aren't you Silvers Rayleigh?"

He didn't feel like lying. Couldn't have if he'd wanted to, anyway, because of that damn loyalty.

"Yes. I am."

The boy's visible eye grew wide. "But… but Gold Roger is being executed today in East Blue!"

A heavy sigh. "You think I don't know that, brat?"

"Why aren't you doing anything to stop it!" More a demand than a question.

He was silent a moment, and then answered, voice heavy with emotions born from having a bond so strong and so absolute that it couldn't be described in words.

"Loyalty."


	12. Hat

**Title:** Reunion

**Theme:** Hat

**Words:** 244

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes:** I love mentor/mentee type relationships. Heeeee.

**Summary:** The one thing Rayleigh never thought he would see Shanks without was missing.

…

"…What happened to your hat?"

The boy before him (because no matter how much time passed, he would always be a boy to Rayleigh) raised an incredulous eyebrow. "We haven't seen each other for twelve years, and when we finally do I'm missing an arm, and the first thing you ask about is my _hat_?"

"You never went anywhere without it."

"I never went anywhere without my arm, either."

"Oh, right, it _was_ attached, wasn't it?"

Shanks laughed. "I think you have me confused with Buggy."

"Haha, maybe so. How is he, anyway? Still terrorizing East Blue?"

"Yeah. I don't think he'll ever leave; he's got a good thing goin' for him."

"Well, he never was one for grand adventure. But back to you… how'd you lose it?"

"My arm?"

"Your hat."

"The more interesting story is how I lost my arm."

"I doubt that."

"Well, lucky for you, they're the same story."

"Ah." Rayleigh smirked. "Then I'm sure that _is_ interesting, indeed." He slung an arm around the boy's shoulders. "Come on, kid; I'll buy you a drink and you can tell me all about it."

"Sounds good." He had an almost childish (_completely childish_, in Rayleigh's thinking) smile on his face. "Say, would you think I was crazy if I said I gave my hat to a kid?"

Rayleigh stared at his former apprentice for a long time before shaking his head. "No. No, I wouldn't think you were crazy at all."


	13. Sheep

**Title:** Before Goliath, There Was Roger

**Theme:** Sheep

**Words: **826

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** SERIOUS biblical allusions; at the time of writing this, David was my favorite Biblical character, but it's since moved to Joshua or Thomas.

**Notes:** One Piece characters are owned by Oda. David is owned by, uhh... God, I suppose. XP This David is my OC, though. Also, I feel like I got SERIOUSLY OOC with Roger, though with as little as he's in the manga, it's hard to tell... Oh, and this is EARLY in their pirating career, also, Roger and Rayleigh are not being wimps, it's just, beating up a boy for a sheep? Not very nice... (Screw being pirate-y, XP) Oh, and continuation of their food troubles here as well.

**Summary:** Roger and Rayleigh try stealing sheep from the _wrong_ shephard.

…

"Okay, so, we're just going to sneak up and steal a sheep, right?"

"You're asking _me_? It was _your _idea!"

"Well, _you're_ captain." Rayleigh folded his arms. "That means _you_ come up with the plans. Unless you'd rather I just went hunting again…"

"Right, we'll steal a sheep." Roger slowly stood up and looked over the bushes at the flock before them. Putting a finger to his lips to shush Rayleigh (as though he needed it), he started to creep forward. Rayleigh stood up and followed in similar fashion.

They got right up to the sheep, and Roger slipped up behind one and grabbed it around the middle. The sheep let out a bored, "Baaaah," and looked sleepily back at him, chewing grass with little concern.

It wasn't exactly the response the pirate had been expecting. "Eh? He's not scared? Is this sheep stupid or somethin'?"

"Maybe it's just so domesticated, it doesn't fear humans," Rayleigh suggested, grabbing a different sheep to the same reaction.

"Hah! This was too easy!" Roger grinned broadly, picked up the sheep (who didn't so much as wiggle), and started to walk off. "Let's get this baby to a butcher! Real meat tonight!"

Rayleigh dropped his own sheep and was about to follow his captain, when suddenly he heard a rustle in the bushes. He saw the sun glint off of something as it was raised in the air, and he darted forward, tackling Roger into the dirt just in time. Something flew over their heads and slammed into the ground mere feet away, flinging up dust.

The sheep bah'd in protest at being flung so unceremoniously to the ground.

"What the _hell_, Rayleigh!" Roger griped, rolling around to glare at his first mate. It was then that he saw the hole in the ground, and he stopped griping to stare at it.

"…Is that a three foot hole in the ground?"

"It would appear so."

"How did it get there?"

"_I _did it!"

Slowly, the two turned around to see a young boy standing above them, arms folded, a cocky grin on his face. He was holding a slingshot in one hand, not the normal kind, but more of a sling that could be twirled to release a rock.

The sheep bah'd smugly, got up, and wandered idly off.

"Who are you?" demanded Roger, jumping up and pointing at the half-pint, enraged. Rayleigh was much slower to rise, eyeing the slingshot warily.

"My name," the boy announced, "is David, and I'm the shepherd of this pasture!" He stepped back into a fighting stance, sliding the slingshot into a holster on his belt. "And _nobody_ steals sheep on my watch!"

"Oh, come on!" Roger wheedled, using his towering height to loom over the boy. "Just one sheep, and we won't… burn down your barn."

Rayleigh rolled his eyes, knowing Roger would never actually carry out such a threat.

"Nope. Not one sheep."

"Don't be so stingy!" griped Roger. "Fine, whatever, we'll just take 'em and-OW!" He clamped a hand to his face, then whirled to look at Rayleigh. "Did you see that? He hit me with a rock!"

Actually, Rayleigh _hadn't_ seen it; the boy was simply _that_ fast on the draw. "Hey, captain, maybe we should get out of here. There are other places to get food…"

"Oh, no, I'm not letting this brat off eas-OW!"

"Out of my pasture, pirates!" The boy glared them down. "I am David, and I've fought off bears and lions and I'm not afraid of you!"

"Really, Captain, I don't think he's kidding; look at that hole."

"You bet I'm not kidding!" And with that, the boy started pelting them with rocks.

"Come on!" Rayleigh grabbed his captain and dragged him off, both of them getting hit with the pebbles over and over. "One sheep's not worth this."

"I guess you're right," Roger agreed. "Besides, I don't really want to steal from a kid, even if he is a bra-OW!"

They ran into the woods, and the boy stopped chasing them. The two pirates stopped, panting, and then, suddenly, Roger said, "We should ask him to join the crew!"

Rayleigh raised an eyebrow. "Are you kidding? That boy couldn't have been twelve years old yet!"

"Yeah, but he's already strong! Just think of how he'll be after a few years at sea!"

"Get a hold of yourself." Rayleigh shook his head. "That would be condemning the boy to death."

Roger scowled, but relented. "Yeah, I guess you're right…"

…

Two years later, Rayleigh was startled when Roger suddenly threw a newspaper down on the table he was seated at and yelled, "HAH!"

"Uh… what?"

Roger grinned triumphantly. "I. Was. Right," he said, relishing every word.

Rayleigh blinked, then looked down at the headline.

FOURTEEN YEAR OLD DAVID, THE WORLD'S YOUNGEST MARINE CAPTAIN, EVENLY MATCHES THE GIANT GOLIATH OF ELBATH!

"See? I told you so."

Rayleigh grumbled and threw the newspaper back in his face.


	14. Defeat

**Title:** Nice Try

**Theme:** Defeat

**Words:** 174

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes:** I was getting really close to the end of time and starting writing short (and crappy) drabbles.

**Summary:** Are you feelin' lucky, punk?

…

Rayleigh stared at the giant sea king.

The giant sea king stared back.

He thought he had him on the ropes, this fish. Thought he would be the one to take down the great Silvers Rayleigh.

Baring his monstrous teeth, he shot through the water toward the former first mate of the Roger pirates.

He loomed in front of the man, calmly swimming in the sea.

He opened his mouth, showing off the deadly teeth, the crushing jaws.

He was right on top of him, ready to take a bite-

And then Rayleigh punched him in the nose.

Hard.

So hard, he went flying out of the waves and far off over the ocean.

Rayleigh swam up and watched it's progress, then turned and chuckled at the other sea kings at the edge of the Calm Belt.

"Now, are any of _you _going to try and stop me from getting to Amazon Lily?"

With a sound like a bunch of whimpering dogs, the sea kings turned tail and fled.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."


	15. Tangerine

**Title:** Guessing Game

**Theme:** Tangerine

**Words:** 246

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** RayleighxShakky

**Notes:** Awww yeah. RayleighxShakky. Delicious.

**Summary:** Mmmmm… new perfume?

…

"Well, well. Look who showed up today."

Rayleigh flashed a grin at Shakuyaku as he sidled up to the bar and plopped down on a stool. "I'm out of money for now, so I thought I'd come back here."

"How thoughtful of you," she said teasingly, setting a bottle of beer in front of him. "There you are."

"Thanks."

He started to drink as Shakky went back to her newspaper. A moment passed in silence, and then Rayleigh sat down his bottle and looked around, sniffing the air.

"Something wrong?"

He sniffed again, then looked at her. "Oh, it's _you_."

"Oh?"

"Yep." He leaned forward a little, sniffing. "You smell different. New perfume?"

She grinned. "Yeah, actually. Care to guess the scent?"

He smiled, up for the challenge presented. "Sure."

Getting up from his barstool, he leaned over the counter and sniffed. "…Lilac?"

She laughed. "Not even close."

Mischievously, he started around the bar. "Something fruity… a citrus. Lemon?"

"Getting warmer."

He rounded the bar and started slowly toward her. "Lime?"

She leaned in closer to her newspaper, flipping a page disinterestedly. "You're not very good at this, Ray-chan."

Suddenly, arms wrapped around her waist, and a nose and lips, lined by a scraggly beard, buried into the crook of her neck.

"Tangerine."

Smiling, she slowly sat down her newspaper. "You knew all along."

"It's my favorite scent."

"Hmm." She turned around and put her own arms around his neck. "I made a good choice, then…"


	16. Clown

**Title:** Stowaway

**Theme:** Clown

**Words:** 1,115

**Rating:** K+ for one curse

**Warnings:** Uhh... Fluff?

**Notes:** This is one of my theories for how Buggy joined Roger's crew. This was my favorite out of all the ones in this set because I have a real special place in my heart for this kind of story, and for bitty!Buggy.

**Summary: **Rayleigh knew the kid was going to be trouble, but he just couldn't get rid of him.

…

Rayleigh had known the kid was going to be trouble the second he was found stowed away in the hold. He was pulled out, kicking, screaming, biting, while Rayleigh stared on apathetically.

He was a goofy looking kid, with that bulbous red nose and that crazy blue hair. He was a half-starved little wretch, too, in ratty clothing and barefooted. He was cursing a blue streak that was far too creative for his age, and he seemed to throw in the word "flashy" a lot, though Rayleigh hadn't the foggiest what _that _meant.

Still, he didn't have the heart to throw the hapless stowaway into the ocean like several of the crew suggested, and instead took him by the back of his ragged shirt and pushed him to the galley. The boy fought with the ferocity of a trapped animal, obviously scared out of his wits despite his tough façade, and Rayleigh sighed and attempted to calm him down a little with a light cuff on the head and the revelation that he was about to be fed.

He stopped struggling quite as hard, but was still distrusting, and Rayleigh suspected that it was more from resignation that he began to move more obediently. But of _course_ the first mate's heart was as solid as stone, and he didn't feel a single pang of sympathy for the miserable boy. _Nor_ did he give into the urge to reassure him that everything was going to be alright and he wouldn't be hurt, because he was a _pirate_, damn it!

He sat the kid at the table and ordered the cook to make something fast, then took a seat across from him. He glared at Rayleigh over his red nose, arms folded, eyes smoldering, but there were still hints of fear and desperation behind the anger. The pirate remembered the last island they had stopped on, poverty stricken, plagued by famines and marauders… if this kid was from that island, it was little wonder he would take his first chance to escape, even if it _was_ an infamous pirate ship. They could return him, but he probably had no family and no home to return _to_.

Again, Rayleigh was _not_ feeling any sort of pity for the boy.

Just as he was about to ask the kid his name, Shanks decided to make an appearance. For a moment, the kid and the apprentice stared at each other in silence, and then Shanks started laughing about his big, red nose. The boy got over his shock at seeing another his age and started squalling back about how it wasn't _that_ big or red, which was a laughable argument, really. Shanks retorted that yes, it really was, and the kid started yelling back at him about how it wasn't funny at all, and anyway he had really stupid red hair. This simply caused Shanks to laugh harder.

It was at this point that Rayleigh intervened, punching them both in the head, Shanks with the hard cuff he knew he could take, the other with a much lighter cuff, keeping his condition in mind. Because, you know, it wouldn't do to have him bleeding all over the table.

The cook appeared with a plate of steaming food, which he sat in front of the boy with a good-natured scowl; he wasn't one to deny food to the hungry, after all. He was suspicious, poking at it with a spoon, and the cook grumbled and ate a few bites himself. Seeing that it had not been poisoned or tampered with, he began to gulp the food down, barely pausing for breath or drink. Rayleigh couldn't remember seeing anything quite so pathetic, and yet so strong at the same time; to risk a pirate ship for the chance at something better. Any other pirates, or other sailors at all, and he would probably be dead now.

Shanks was now asking the boy a barrage of questions, which he didn't look like he was going to answer as long as there was food in front of him, and Rayleigh decided that they should give him some space. Grabbing Shanks by his shoulders, he pulled him to the door.

The second they were away from the clown boy, the redhead looked up at him with a clear "Can we keep him?" face. Rayleigh rolled his eyes and told him no, that this boy would have to go elsewhere. After all, they didn't need any more cabin boys.

And then Roger came barreling in, demanding to know about this stowaway who dared come on his ship and threaten his crew and how he'd have him keel-hauled, and Rayleigh quickly calmed him down and showed him the boy in the galley, who had stopped mid-bite and was staring with wide eyes at the captain. He'd started trembling a bit at the mention of keel-hauling, and the second Roger got a good look at his sad state, Rayleigh knew he was going to take pity on him.

And now he had one cabin boy and one captain staring at him with that same, "Can we keep him?" look.

Rayleigh sighed and rubbed his temple; he could already feel the headache forming.

He waved his hand at Roger; it was his decision as captain, after all.

Roger shooed them both away and went into the galley. Rayleigh and Shanks waited up on deck, the former patiently and the latter fidgeting like he had sea urchins in his trousers.

It was about half an hour later before Roger reappeared, announcing to the crew that Buggy was going to be their second cabin boy, to their astonishment. Buggy was scowling, trying to hide his fear and uncertainty.

Shanks bounded forward and declared that Buggy was a great name for a clown, and Buggy yelled at him that he wasn't a clown, to which Shanks retorted that his nose meant he _must_ be. The two started arguing up a storm, which caused the crew to laugh uproariously and call out encouragements, and it looked like it was going to devolve into a fist fight so Rayleigh smacked them both in the head.

But the fear in Buggy's eyes had left and he looked much more at ease with the boy his own age, and Rayleigh knew that he would fit in just fine.

He would never know the kid's story, and he never intended to ask. He trusted his captain's decision fully. After all, Roger knew things when it came to people. He saw something in that boy that made him decide to let him join, and Rayleigh would stand by that with no regrets.

Even if it _was_ a big headache.


	17. Ship

I had to go to bed. You're not rid of update spam yet. /evil grin

**Title: **Disembarking

**Theme:** Ship

**Words:** 249

**Rating: **K

**Warnings:** Ah... more depressing? -_-'

**Notes: **I was really satisfied with myself on both the title of this fic and the content.

**Summary:** One last walk down the gangplank.

…

The ship held so many memories.

The galley, home to so many rowdy mealtimes.

The forward deck, where the best parties were held.

The crew cabin, where he spent many a night playing cards with his crewmates or discussing dreams and women and everything in between.

And his captain's cabin, where he had sat long hours with his best friend, his captain, talking about everything and nothing.

He had so many good memories on this ship. Parties where he got so drunk he couldn't stand. Sparring matches that he always won. Hell, even the apprentices' stupid fights had a place in his heart.

And he had bad memories, as well. Fights that got too heated. Sorrows that broke men down. Friends dying, leaving them to face the world without them.

This ship, through the good and the bad, had been his home.

And now, it was almost empty, save his captain and himself.

They docked at the island, and with a heavy heart he descended the gangplank for the last time. He paused just before his boot hit the sand, staring at the wood. He almost looked back.

Almost.

And then, with a heavy heart, he stepped completely off.

He walked up to a cliff and watched as the ship drew away from the island and began to sail away, proud despite its destination, sails gleaming in the setting sun as the ship asserted its dominance over this ocean.

Rayleigh raised his hand in parting.

_Godspeed, Oro Jackson. Godspeed._


	18. Vegetable

**Title:** Outta My Rutabega!

**Theme:** Vegetables

**Words:** 262

**Rating:** K

**Warnings: **When senior citizens attack!

**Notes:** More food troubles. The tomato is not actually a vegetable but it's a common mistake and anyway it was a vegetable garden that happened to have tomatoes in it.

I really just wanted an excuse to say "termaters."

**Summary:** Rayleigh tries to steal from a garden. He is less than successful.

Rayleigh peered over the bushes at the small garden. With all their meat gathering problems, he and Roger had agreed that perhaps vegetables were the way to go. This was what brought the first mate to the back of this small house today.

He glanced at the back door, but all was still. Feeling more like a fool than a pirate, he crawled through the hedge and crept toward the vegetable patch.

He had barely picked three tomatoes before he heard the slam of a door. He looked up into the eyes of a hunched old woman, leaning on a cane.

"What'cha doin' in my garden, whippersnapper?" she demanded, peering at him through her spectacles.

"Aahhh…"

"You tryin' to steal my termaters?"

"Actually, yes, I am." Rayleigh stood up and dusted off his knees. "What're you gonna do about i-OW!"

He jumped up on one foot, clutching his knee, while the old woman raised her cane, ready to assault him again.

"Get outta here, young 'un! These are my veggies!" Thwack!

Rayleigh danced backward, now rubbing his elbow along with his knee. "Now, calm down, ple-AUGH!"

The old woman brought the cane from between Rayleigh's legs. She watched him sink to the ground in satisfaction.

"An don't come back now, ya hear?"

…

"So, how'd it go?"

Roger was answered with a tomato in his face.

The captain rubbed the juice off. "I'm guessing not well?" Then he got a good look at Rayleigh. "Whoa, where'd you get those bruises?"

Rayleigh sat down grumpily. "No more vegetables. Too dangerous."

Roger just laughed.


	19. Pet

**Title:** Fluffy

**Theme:** Pet

**Words:** 204

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** All dialogue

**Notes:** Shanks and Buggy are not really seven, I just like writing them like they are. -_-'

**Summary: **"Can we keep him, Ray-san? Pleeeaaase?"

…

"We can keep it, right, Ray-san?"

"No."

"Aww, come on!"

"Do either of you even know what that thing is?"

"Yeah! It's a dog!"

"A dog?"

"Yep!"

"Shanks, that "dog" has tusks. And spikes. And is purple and blue."

"It's a special dog! Right, Buggy?"

"Don't look at me, flashy bastard! I have no part in this."

"Hey, you said you would help take care of him!"

"It doesn't matter, you're not keeping it. Look, it almost bit off Johnson's arm just now."

"He was just playing!"

"At taking off people's limbs?"

"We could give him Buggy's arms to chew on, it's not like it'll hurt 'em!"

"Yeah, we could-hey, I am not a chew toy!"

"But you'd make such a great one!"

"Shut up, both of you! We're not keeping him. It. The thing."

"But he wants to be a pirate!"

"It tries to kill us every time we get it close to the water."

"Well…"

"Just give it up, Ray-san says no."

"…Fine."

"Oh, don't have that face, now. We'll… get you a fish or somethin'."

"Oh, like a sea king!"

"That would be flashy awesome!"

"A goldfish, goldfish! …Lord, give me strength not to murder them both before we reach Raftel…"


	20. Lies

**Title: **Bullshit

**Theme:** Lies

**Words:** 243

**Rating:** K+

**Warnings:** Excessive Cursing.

**Notes:** This is alluding to the card game "Bullshit," or "BS" (Cheat! on Neopets, lol).

**Summary:** It was bullshit, all of it, all the government said, and Rayleigh wanted nothing more than to call them on it.

The World Government, Rayleigh knew, had to be the world's worst card players.

Gold Roger was a scourge upon the earth.

They didn't have a poker face worth anything.

He wanted nothing but to pillage and enslave the citizens of the Grand Line.

All their lies were out in the open. Right there for everyone to see.

Trust the World Government and the Celestial Dragons; we'll take care of you.

But no one called them out on it.

Rayleigh wanted to call them out on it.

Gold Roger has been captured by the marines and will be executed.

Bullshit.

All his crew has been eradicated.

Bullshit.

He is survived by no one.

Bullshit, Rayleigh wanted to scream. All of it bullshit.

He wanted to show that they didn't have a king, that an ace was still out there, hell, that they'd never had a queen and he'd make damned sure they never had a jack, either.

But no one wanted to call it, too afraid that they'd flip the cards and prove themselves.

He wanted to call it.

The age of pirates' rule is over.

Bullshit.

And then, suddenly, there were those that would call them on it. A whole generation full of them, none of them afraid to call the Government on what Rayleigh had known all along. Forcing them to show their cards to the world. To show their lies.

Rayleigh was glad he hadn't folded before he saw it happen.


	21. Smoke

**Title:** Ambitions

**Theme:** Smoke

**Words:** 138

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes:** This leads directly into the next one.

**Summary:** A dream born from smoke.

…

There was a marine base in the town where Rayleigh grew up. He could see its high walls from his bedroom window. Ever afternoon, the officers would go to the range and practice their aim, and Rayleigh would watch the smoke from the barrels of the guns rise in a great cloud in the air.

The child would often watch this smoke and daydream about the pageantry of the marines. He would watch them patrol the town, take out their ships, protect them from all manner of evil, from bandits to pirates. They were heroes here, praised by the townspeople, loved by everyone.

Rayleigh wanted to be a hero, too.

Watching the smoke as it rose over the pop of the rifles, he vowed that one day he would wear that uniform.

He would be Silvers Rayleigh, marine.


	22. Thief

**Title:** Ambitions Stolen

**Theme:** Thief

**Words:** 167

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** ...Government assholes?

**Notes:** Sequel to Ambitions, the fill for Smoke.

**Summary:** A dream stolen in fire.

Rayleigh didn't understand it.

The marines had been their friends. Their protectors. Their heroes.

And now they had betrayed the entire town.

The slave trade, someone had explained to him as he ran blindly with the group, like a herd of cattle trying to escape the slaughter. The Celestial Dragons wanted them for the slave trade. A batch of fresh, young faces. That's what they were looking for.

They had ordered the marines to apprehend everyone on charges of conspiracy against the World Government.

The marines complied.

Rayleigh fled, his trust broken forever. He had aspired to wear that uniform one day. And now… now it was a thing symbolizing those who wanted to enslave him.

Rayleigh managed to escape that day, but so much had been stolen from him. His home. His family.

His dream.

And the thief was easily identifiable, clear as sin.

The marines.

The World Government.

They had stolen almost everything from him.

But they would not take his freedom.

He swore it.


	23. Punishment

**Title:** Sentence

**Theme:** Punishment-Set 1

**Words:** 161

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** One Curse

**Notes:** There's a word for cleaning off the barnacles. I can't remember it right now. Sigh...

**Summary:** "So what're _you_ in for?"

…

"Man, I can't believe we have to scrape the barnacles off the hull," Buggy complained, dragging his trowel across the wood.

"Could be worse," Shanks pointed out. "We could be scrubbing the toilets." He nearly gagged on the last word.

Buggy's eyes went wide. "Don't even joke about that," he snapped, and Shanks laughed wryly.

"Yeah. Don't," said flat voice a little ways down from them, and they turned to grin at the man irately scraping barnacles with them.

"Oh yeah, you had to, didn't you?" asked Buggy smugly.

"And then you had to do this? Damn," Shanks agreed in mock pity.

"I oughta feed you both to the sharks."

Shanks wagged his finger while Buggy guffawed next to him. "Now, now, don't do the crime if you can't do the time. We didn't try to steal the last of Captain's favorite rum."

Their fun ended when Rayleigh chunked well-aimed barnacles into their mouths.

Good, now he could suffer in silence.


	24. Sword

**Title:** The Sharpest Blade

**Theme:** Sword

**Words:** 150

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes:** This was written before we knew as much about haki as we know now.

**Summary:** Musings on haki from the Pirate King's first mate.

…

Rayleigh always thought of haki as a sword.

It certainly had the same destructive power as one, when wielded properly. In the hands of a master, it could destroy enemies in a matter of seconds.

But when wielded by a novice, it was clumsy and useless. Cumbersome.

Like a sword, to use haki took a lot of practice, a lot of training, and a lot of discipline. And it also took a certain talent, a will that was rapidly disappearing from the world.

Rayleigh would see many sword masters ins his time. Mihawk of course, that Roronoa kid who would replace him, even Shanks, his old cabin boy. He was pretty good with a sword, too, if he did say so himself.

But Rayleigh would only have the pleasure of meeting two true masters of the blade.

One's dying words sparked a pirate age.

The other came to rule it.


	25. Friendship

**Title:** Frenemies

**Theme:** Friendship

**Words:** 458

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** Maybe a curse; I don't remember at this point... -_-

**Notes:** I didn't want to go for the obvious and write about Roger and Rayleigh. Kuzan is Aokiji for those of you like me who have to look junk like that up.

**Summary:** Roger throws a party. The attendees are a little unusual.

…

Rayleigh wondered idly what kind of sight the party must look like to interlopers as he passed another beer to Kuzan and Marco.

Gold Roger, most wanted pirate in the world, was playing host to not only Whitebeard, his only comparable rival, but also Garp and the marines, of all people! The apprentices had gone absolutely mad with indignation.

"There's no way we're sharing rum with those flashy bastards!" Buggy protested.

"Yeah, the Whitebeard pirates are our enemies, and the others are the government's dogs!" Shanks agreed.

"Hey, you can't fault a man too much for his profession," Rayleigh scolded, amused. "And it definitely doesn't change how much fun he is at a drinking party."

"This is stupid!" they both protested, and kept protesting until Rayleigh gave them a stern cuff over the head and ordered them to act civil.

He could see them now, arm and arm with cabin boys from the Whitebeard pirates and the marine ship, drunk out of their undersized skulls and singing something with no discernible tune.

"I still can't believe you guys showed up," Marco said to Kuzan, grinning good-naturedly. "Isn't this against some kind of protocol?"

The man waved it off from where he leaned back against a barrel. He looked half asleep already. "We're officially off duty."

Now the Whitebeard first commander looked over at Rayleigh. "And you guys make it a habit to entertain off duty marines?"

"Not regularly. We wouldn't want to spoil them."

Marco laughed and looked over to where their respective captains were attempting to drink each other under the table. All three of them were in the running, while any other pirates or marines in the running had long ago passed out in a losers' heap.

"Father'll win," he remarked. "He's got giant blood."

"Ah, ah." Rayleigh swigged his own rum before disagreeing. "Never underestimate the alcohol tolerance of mad men like Roger and Garp."

"I dunno; maybe what that D really stands for is 'dead drunk'."

"Very funny, bird boy. I think you're just jealous that Ed doesn't have one."

Marco bristled at the informal nickname for his captain, and Kuzan decided to intervene.

"Hey, we're friends, now."

The two seemed to remember that, and sank back down, good humor returned. "At least for tonight," Marco agreed.

"Yep. Tomorrow, we're enemies again." Rayleigh chugged his rum nonchalantly.

"Kinda sad, isn't it? We're good friends one night, and then we're trying to kill each other." Marco shook his head.

Silvers shrugged. "Most good foe-ships begin in good friendships."

"I thought that was marriages?"

"…Damn, I sure hope not. I don't want to marry either of you idiots."

Kuzan laughed, and the subordinates of the three most powerful men on the seas clinked their bottles together.


	26. Curse

**Title:** True Love's Kiss

**Theme:** Curse

**Words:** 485

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** RayleighxShakky

**Notes: **Cliches running wild!

**Summary:** When someone's cursed, there's usually only one way to break it…

…

You wished for eternal youth, did you not? Well, here you are; you got what you wished for. You will stay young forever, and watch all those you care about wither away and die. This is your curse.

And so it was.

…

"I'd say I'm worthy of my name now," Rayleigh lamented jokingly, looking at himself in a mirror. "Look at all this silver hair!"

"It makes you look distinguished," Shakky said with a smile.

"I could do without that. I'd much rather look unrespectable." He looked away from the mirror and up at the barmaid. "You, however, still look like a spring chicken. How do you do it?"

She considered this question, taking a slow drag of her cigarette. "It's a curse," she finally answered.

"A curse?" He laughed. "I'd say; must be torture to have those kids hitting on you when you're old enough to be their grandmother-"

"No," she interrupted, amusement belying her sudden tenseness. "It's really a curse."

Rayleigh stared at her blankly, so she took a breath and explained.

"Seventy, eighty years ago… I can't even remember anymore, it was so long ago. Back then, I was a pirate on a good ship with a good crew. I was the only female, and I was young and beautiful.

"I started to get older, though, and my beauty started to fade. I got scars from battles and wrinkly skin from too much sun. I wanted nothing more than to go back to the way I had been.

"So, I made a wish. And it was answered; I was granted eternal youth. I became young, and I stayed that way, and watched my friends grow old and die without me. It was a hard thing."

She said all this while puffing contentedly on the cigarette, and Rayleigh wasn't sure if he should believe it or not.

"And how do you break this curse of yours?" he asked after awhile.

"What makes you think I want to break it?"

He chuckled knowingly. "If you didn't, you wouldn't have told me. You would have been content to watch me grow old without you."

"Hmm… Maybe so." She put out her stub under the heel of her shoe. "Actually, the only way to break it is to be kissed by my true love. Like a cute little fairytale."

"Huh. And who do you think that is?"

She smirked. "I don't know. I haven't met him yet."

"Are you sure?" He scooted closer around the bar.

"Mostly."

He was now right in front of her. "Well, how about you let me give it a shot, then. Just in case."

"Well… I guess it can't hurt."

…

"Now look who has gray hair."

Shakky rolled her eyes, turning back to her lover of five years. "Your fault," she pointed out.

Rayleigh laughed and pulled her into his arms. "Was it worth it?"

"Mmm… I'd say so."


	27. Devil Fruit

**Title:** The Land and the Sea

**Theme:** Devil Fruit

**Words:** 843

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** Crazy theories

**Notes:** Buggy is not as young as he seems! I did the math, he's like, 14 or 15, really. Also I like making up myths.

**Summary:** In the beginning, the Sea gave life to the world. But the Earth became jealous, and lured the people from their Mother…

Buggy was sulking over by the forward railing; it was where he could usually be found the last couple days, ever since he accidentally ate the Bara Bara no Mi. He claimed to be upset about his lost chance for a lot of beri, but Rayleigh felt it might be a bit more than that.

The boy was upset that he'd lost his ability to swim.

With a sigh to himself, Rayleigh went up to the railing next to the boy and settled in next to him. "Aren't you supposed to be washing dishes or something?"

He scowled and didn't look away from the sea. "We got it done already."

"Oh. Well, why don't you go find Shanks and do something more productive than sulking?"

"I don't want to talk to that flashy bastard."

"I thought you might say that." Rayleigh gave a long-suffering sigh. "You can't keep blaming him for what happened, you know."

"Why not? It's his fault!"

"You put the damn fruit in your mouth."

Buggy's scowl deepened, and his head sunk into his arms on the railing. "I was trying to filch it for the money. You know it. You all know it."

"Yep, we're all well aware that you were a total moron." Rayleigh laughed at his hapless expression. "You could have just asked for the fruit, you know. Captain was giving it to whoever wanted it anyway."

"Pirates don't ask; they just take whatever they want."

"Not from their nakama, they don't," Rayleigh pointed out sternly, and actually got a wince out of the apprentice.

For a minute they were both silent, the first mate hoping that Buggy was reflecting on what he had done and was very, very sorry. But instead, when the boy spoke, he got, "Why do Devil Fruits take away your ability to swim?"

"Weeell…" Rayleigh took off his glasses and cleaned them for no reason while he mulled this over. "There are lots of explanations for it… but the one I always believed was a legend my grandmother told me."

"Uh-huh." Buggy had just lost interest, Rayleigh could tell, so that meant he should definitely tell the boy the story! Kids needed to be educated, anyway.

"A long time ago, in the early days of the world, there was only the Land and the Sea. The waters of the Sea gave life to everything, both what was in the Sea itself and what was on the Land. But there seemed to be something missing, and so the Sea gave birth to humans.

"For many generations, the humans lived in their mother, the Sea. They flourished there, and praised the Sea for all she gave them.

"The Land grew jealous, as he had only animals and no humans. He lusted to have the humans live on him and praise him instead."

"Then, one day, the Land got an idea. He grew from his soil a wondrous tree, and on that tree grew amazing fruits. With a single bite of this fruit, a human would be granted amazing power.

"Enticed by the idea of this power, humans began to forsake the Sea and go up on land. They ate of the fruit of the tree, and in doing so, swore their allegiance to the Land.

"The Sea was greatly distraught at their abandonment. In a fit of rage and sorrow, she took away their ability to breathe her waters, and granted that ability only to those that remained. This is how we got fishmen and mermaids.

"But the Land was small, and soon people began to miss the limitless freedom the Sea offered them. They all went down to the shore, trying to rejoin their mother.

"But the Sea refused them; because they had forsaken her, she would now forsake them. All those who'd eaten of the Land's terrible fruit was now barred from the Sea forever. And the Land was triumphant.

"As the years and generations wore on, the humans began to long for the Sea more than ever. They cried out to her, pledging that they would forsake the Land for her sake. She missed her children as well, but she had forever barred them from her.

"Then she and a human man had an idea; to make it so humans could float above the water rather than in it. Together, using materials of the Land, they built the first ship.

"And from that day on, people have been sailing the vast waters of this world. Because their mother calls them on." Then he laughed, breaking the spell and causing the wide-eyed boy to blink rapidly in surprise. "Of course, that could be completely ridiculous."

"Hah, yeah." Buggy shook his head and tried to pretend he hadn't been completely wrapped up in it. "That's a flashy story, alright."

Rayleigh shrugged. "I always liked it."

Buggy waited a bit before asking his next question. "Since I ate a Devil's Fruit, will the Sea reject me?"

Rayleigh smiled and patted the apprentice on the back. "Don't worry, Buggy. She never truly forsakes her children."


	28. Hunger

**Title:** Finally, a Cook

**Theme:** Hunger

**Words:** 417

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** Inconsistancies with my own fanon timeline... -_-'

**Notes:** The long(?)-awaited conclusion to Rayleigh and Roger's food troubles.

**Summary:** The Roger Pirates gets their third crew member! And just in time.

"I'm starving."

Rayleigh sighed and nodded. "Me too."

The two sole members of the Roger pirates were in rather dire straits. They couldn't buy food because they had no money. They had no money because they hadn't gotten their pirating business off the ground. They hadn't done that because it's hard to commit acts of piracy on an empty stomach.

Granted, they could steal food, but fate seemed to be conspiring against them on that one. Especially when a town was struggling with poverty; they simply didn't have the heart to steal from them. Saving places from evil bandits and other pirates did help a little when they were given food in gratitude; Rayleigh was on the verge of suggesting they become professional vigilantes instead.

"Oi! You two! Excuse me!"

The two pirates were brought out of their concerns about food by the sudden voice behind them. They turned to find a rather slender but muscular man behind them, wearing an apron.

"Yeah?" said Roger eloquently.

"You guys are Captain Roger and Silvers Rayleigh, aren't you?" he asked.

The pirates exchanged glances (they'd been recognized!) before grinning at him. "That's us!" Roger declared.

The man was beaming excitedly. "You guys saved the restaurant I work at from bandit's the other day, remember?"

Now the exchanged glance was disheartened; so that was where he knew them from. "Yeah, I remember that," agreed Rayleigh.

The man suddenly fell forward on his knees before Roger. "I've always wanted to sail as a pirate. Please, take me with you!"

Roger took a startled step back, not expecting this at all. "Well, uh… what can you do?" he finally asked. It seemed like the captain-ly thing to say.

"Oh!" He jumped back up. "I'm a cook."

Both pirates' eyes lit up. A cook would certainly be nice right now…

"Can we trust him?" asked Rayleigh skeptically.

"He seemed okay at the restaurant…"

"Is that you or your hunger talking?"

"Well… I am hungry," he whined.

The man was waiting patiently, but at this he spoke up helpfully. "You guys hungry? I could get you something right now, if you want."

Both pirates' stomachs growled, and they glanced at each other once more.

"I think our guts just made the decision for us," Roger said, holding out a hand. "Welcome to the crew, Mr… uh…"

"Bronze," he answered quickly, wringing Roger's hand. "Garrett Bronze."

Rayleigh's eyes widened in shock while Roger's booming laugh echoed down the street. "Yes, welcome to the crew, Bronze."


	29. Barrel

**Title:** First Mate to First Mate

**Theme:** Barrel

**Words:** 386

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** None

**Notes: **This was written before we learned where the crew went.

**Summary:** A heart to heart between two first mates.

…

The Strawhat crew's reunion had been a joyous occasion. Rayleigh had never felt so gratified as to watch the nine nakama see each other once more, embrace each other. It was an amazing sight.

They had stayed up late at Shakky's bar, sharing stories and drinks and reveling in each other's company, seemingly unable to tear their gaze away for fear that they would disappear again.

But now they were running out of beer, and Rayleigh saw this as an opportunity to do something he'd been wanting to do since Luffy's crew returned.

"Oi, Roronoa! Come with me to the cellar to get more rum."

"Huh? Uh… okay." Looking a bit confused, the green-haired swordsman rose from the table and followed him through the back door and down the stairs.

"Will this one work?" Roronoa asked, starting to pick up a barrel, but he was stopped by Rayleigh's foot on the lid.

"Roronoa Zoro," he said contemplatively, meeting the younger man's fierce glare with a passive one of his own. "You're the first mate, right?"

"Not officially." He folded his arms, eyebrow raised.

"But you act like it."

"Someone has to. Can't let the shit-cook try."

Rayleigh actually smirked at that; Roronoa and Black Leg were just like Buggy and Shanks.

"Listen, I think I should tell you what your captain has been through-"

"I already know," Roronoa cut him off. "But he'll tell me when he's ready." Rayleigh raised an eyebrow now, and the other shrugged. "It's the way we do things. But don't worry," he added. "We'll take care of him."

Rayleigh studied him a moment. "Kuma told me, before he was completely gone, what happened at Thriller Bark." Roronoa tensed. "I won't tell him. I was just wondering… why?"

He actually looked confused. "Well, you would know. He's my captain."

"You could have been throwing away your dream. You know that, right?"

Another shrug. "Didn't matter. It was my dream or Luffy's. Easy choice." He nodded at the barrel. "We takin' that up or not?"

Rayleigh smiled and took his foot off. "Sorry. I'm sure you'd rather be with your nakama than a crusty old man."

Roronoa smirked and lifted the rum. "No offense," he said before starting up the stairs.

Rayleigh followed, chuckling to himself. Strawhat Luffy… you've certainly found excellent nakama.


	30. Tears

**Title:** Lament

**Theme:** Tears

**Words:** 433

**Rating:** K

**Warnings:** One Curse Word, a line that could be construed as a biblical allusion? Oh, and depressing subject matter. Oh, and Rouge/Roger which I guess doesn't really need to be mentioned cuz it's canon but whatever.

**Notes:** This is a crappy fic, man...

**Summary: **If Roger couldn't cry, then Rayleigh would do it for him.

As Roger's first mate and oldest friend, Rayleigh had seen him cry many times. In good times, as when a friend thought dead returned alive, and bad times, when a friend did not return at all. He'd seen him cry from laughing too much, and a few times he didn't care to think about, he'd seen him cry from physical pain. And, though he would never tell anyone of this, would carry this secret to the grave, he had seen his captain cry _every time _he had to say goodbye to Rouge.

So when Roger returned to the captain's quarters after this particular visit, Rayleigh was sure to be there, to be the comfort his captain needed. He was expecting to find him teary-eyed and saying some bullshit about sinuses or spicy food or something.

Instead, he found Roger sitting completely dry eyed in his chair, staring out the porthole as the island shrank away into the distance. He didn't speak for a long time, and Rayleigh waited patiently, without speaking.

Finally, Roger said, "I'll never see her again, Rayleigh. That was it."

Rayleigh only nodded, but didn't speak.

"I don't regret it, though," he continued, a ghost of a grin on his face. "I'm going to die, anyway; might as well give 'em all something to talk about!"

Rayleigh smiled a little at this as well. "Sure. That was your plan, wasn't it?"

Roger barked out a laugh, then fell quiet for a moment again, staring back out the porthole.

And then he said something, something that froze Rayleigh to his core.

He knew then. Knew why Roger wasn't crying. This… this was beyond tears. No human display of emotion could accurately show this sorrow. It was desolate, and it was hopeless, too, because Roger was as good as dead anyway and there was _nothing he could do_.

Rayleigh left the cabin then, left because he suddenly couldn't stand it. Roger couldn't cry, but Rayleigh could.

He walked past the crew, what was left on the _Oro Jackson_, anyway, and went into the crew's cabin. No one was in there now, so he locked the door and sat in the empty room, and thought about his captain's news. A legacy that he had wanted to leave behind for a new generation suddenly _was_ being left, in a way he had never expected. In a way that was horrible, and could leave to nothing but tragedy. In a way that Roger _should_ have been there for, but would now never get a chance to know, or to love.

"_She's pregnant, Rayleigh."_

Rayleigh wept.


End file.
